Laura Ruby

(she/her)

Laura has a strong, inborn love of plants and animals. But it wasn’t until she earned her Permaculture Design Certificate in 2002 from Crystal Waters EcoVillage in Australia that she understood how to work with them sustainably through whole systems design. After this experience and graduating from the University of Colorado with an Environmental Science degree, she started working with the Growe Foundation, designing and implementing gardens at 14 elementary schools. Through an inspiring curriculum and seeing more and more children eating veggies that they grew at school, she started YummyYards to help families grow food where they live.

YummyYards supports those who want to create and expand their aesthetic and edible gardens. She believes these two types of gardens do not need to be separate. Instead, they can ebb and flow to create a more resilient, productive, and beautiful outdoor living space.

In 2013, she moved to Western North Carolina and immediately started working with other landscapers and nurseries in the Asheville area. She took a position with The Roots Foundation as their Director of Curriculum from 2015-2018. Through the foundation, she worked with teachers in Asheville City Schools, developing multi-disciplinary, real-world, project-based learning lessons for grades K-7. She also co-designed many outdoor learning classrooms at the Lucy Herring Elementary School of Ecology.

Laura is creating an educational and inspirational farm, the Ruby Ranch, in Candler, NC.